and then we were 6

about a week ago i chatted paul to see if he'd ever in a million years consider a westie-poo puppy i saw advertised through a friend of a friend on facebook. he said YES! but no sooner did he say yes than i realized the posting was 2 weeks old and the puppy was gone. so i called the humane society...i figured while the answer was yes, i'd just consider all the options. i told them "my husband and i always like westies...do you ever have dogs in that aren't on the website?" and she said "i've worked here for 4 years and i've seen MAYBE 2 westies come through." long pause and then in a hushed voice she said "but we just happen to have one under anesthesia right now. he came in as a stray from santa fe yesterday and he got nuetered today." after talking she said i could wait for his picture to come up on the website or i could put a $15 deposit on him and they could hold him for us to come see him.
i went down to see him and i didn't instantly fall in love. i just couldn't picture my house with another dog, a dog i knew nothing about, in it. but he was cute. he reminded me of my sister's dog who just passed away this last year and he was an amazing dog. because of his surgery we couldn't see him beyond just looking into his cage at the humane society. the next morning i took asher and tatum back down there. they brought him out and he played really well with asher. REALLY well. the thing you have to know about asher is that he is NOT good with pets, especially pets that have hair long enough to grab into a fisthold. it makes me so mad. i HATE when he's mean to the dogs. but we've been shouting "GENTLE HANDS! GENTLE HANDS!" when we can see it coming. and he did gentle hands with this new dog! with out being prompted. then they brought tatum out and she stood still and cold as a cucumber. she tightened every muscle in her body as if to say "how dArE you???" then we let them off leashes and she nipped him a couple good times, he gave her a play bow and let her take the alpha role and then they played like they've been missing each other for years. i've been wanting to get a dog for tatum for a couple years now. she's gotten more and more timid as she gets older and everyone i described her behavior to said "she needs a dog!" that night paul came to meet him and agreed that he was game if i was game. and so we named him gilligan and brought him home. here's a picture i took that night.

and here's what he looks like a week later after a good scrubbing and WAY more comfortable.

he has been so funny to have around. they guessed his age as 1 year and i think they are pretty close. he still chews alot so i know there's alooooot of puppy left in him. but he sleeps all day too (hopefully that doesn't mean he's growing!). i got him a BIG bag of bones last night and he's already eaten 2 of them. he's such a great playmate for tatum. he's shedding which i am NOT a fan of but i need to bathe him really good and it's spring. he's a wire haired dog so that should stop. he comes to his name and obeys some commands...not all. he can NOT figure out sit but i'm hoping tatum will show him the ropes with that one. karyssa has claimed him as her dog and after the first night when the shedding began paul said "well, it's up to you...i mean...i think he's cute but ...." so i guess it's a done deal. paul is hooked. he comes home and gets right down on gilligan's level and coos and greets him. gilligan has a little doll that he keeps pulling out of the toybox. he does it so gingerly and never chews on it...just snuggles it. he pulls the pillows down on the floor because he's learned he is not allowed on the futon even though tatum is. if i leave a blanket on there he'll pull that down too. and when he gets scolded he smiles. no lie. i wish i could get a picture of it. he pulls his lips back so that all that shows is just the very tips of every single tooth. it is adorable and makes me giggle even when i'm scolding him. if i forget to feed him breakfast he will help himself to ours if i don't clear the table right away. he's getting cuter and cuter every day and i am slowly falling more in love with him. he's gonna be a good dog...i just have to get over the part where there's actually two dogs in my house!

is this what it feels like? because it's amazing!

i just checked the mail. these days all kinds of fun stuff comes in the mail. today i got the kids' new medical cards from the state with not only their new last names but their middle initials changed. since peanut is going to go by his middle name it's really exciting to see his. and since we got to give both kids their middle names it feels more real. this is the one section of their name that i got to have a say in. our last name came with paul. but their middle names-those we got to pick ourselves! this is so exciting since i've never gotten to name anything besides our dog! :D can't WAIT for adoption day!! it's all starting to feel so official. i've had a hard time, honestly, calling peanut by his middle name because it just wasn't feeling real yet. but it's starting to.

sneakasauresrex

tatum has become quite sneaky in her old age. every day i put the kids down for a nap and she waits. and waits. and waits for the phone to ring. and as soon as my back is turned and i'm busy on the phone sneak quick as a bunny she's up the stairs. then she lays against the kids' doors until one of them opens where she spends the rest of her afternoon sleeping under peanut's crib (her first choice) or sweet pea's bed (her second, but not sloppy second, choice.) little booger.

girlfriend can HIKE!

today i took the kids hiking. i have realized if i don't write something on the calendar, we don't do anything. so on days that are blank i'm writing in "hiking" or "swimming" or some activity. i gotta keep these kids moving.
anyhow-today it said "hiking", so we went hiking. me and the kids and tatum tu-tu. i put peanut in the back pack and decided this time i'd let sweet pea hike on her own two feet. she has tons of energy-why should i carry them both? she did AMAZING! we went just over a mile and all of that (except a couple little parts where i carried her because it was uphill) she hiked on her own two feet! i was amazed. gravely, rocky cragy, dusty, solid rock, all of it-she hiked. it got pretty windy and she loved the way the weeds waved in the breeze. she went to walk into them and i told her she needed to stay on the trail. i wasn't sure if there would be snakes in the weeds. we then spent the next 5 minutes pointing to the weeds and saying "nake!....nake!....nake!" finally i said "let's talk about something else." i kept thinking she'd just seen one and was tired of jumping out of my skin. then later a HUGE gust of wind came and about knocked us over. i said "whoa! windy!" and then everything was "ndy!....ndy!....ndy!"
tatum thoroughly enjoyed getting to go and take a nice looooong walk.
seriously, i couldn't ask for more perfect kids for me.
here's a picture i took on my cell phone of us looking down on our car.

SeRiOuSlY loving staying at home

this is my day today:
8:00 woke up and fed peanut one more time (he's sleeping better this week)
8:30 sweet pea woke up and we headed down for breakfast (cream cheesy eggs & bacon)
9:00 cleaned all 3 bathrooms with a toothbrush! LOVE clean!!!
then a shower for me and baths for both kiddos and out the door by 11:30 to have lunch with a friend
12:00 lunch with a friend
1:00 headed home for naptime (oops-an hour late but all is good)
put the kids down and finished putting away the cleaning supplies then tore into the front closet. WOW. LOVE IT! i can even squeeze the stroller into it. i should have taken before and after pictures because i could have a career in organizing.


then i started my oven cleaning concoction. you turn the oven on to 200 for 15 mintues, then turn it off and put 2 cups of amonia in a 8x11 pan on the top rack, 2 cups of boiling water in another 8x11 pan on the bottom rack and let it sit for 2 hours. then you take the amonia, add 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of white vinegar and wipe the oven down with that mix. let that sit for 15 minutes....or just keep scrubbing (which is what i can't help but do) and wah-lah, it's like a brand spanking new oven.
3:30 peanut woke up for a feeding
4:00 sweet pea woke up and we loaded up the stroller (from the closet), took snacks for sweet pea and chicken livers (from last weeks crock pot chicken) for tatum. we are working on getting her used to the dang stroller. for some reason when she stands still next to it for more than a second it freaks her out as if it had just appeared there. ???? that dog puzzles me. took a looooong walk. threw the ball for tatum then...
5:00 came home and started making dinner. pork stir fry with brown rice
6:30 paul came home and we ate dinner then
7:15 started heading to bed for sweet pea
7:30 i finished cleaning the oven and it looks brand NEW.

8:15 sat down and started blogging
I LOVE BEING A STAY AT HOME MOM!!!! I think I've thanked Paul every day since I started staying home. i LOVE it!

sugar sugar

i found out this week that sugar makes me really angry. like 0 to 60 angry in 1 second. i didn't ever notice it before but i know my family thinks i have a short fuse. they have alot of opinions about me that are wrong. yes, you do. you know who you are and i'm not going to fight with you about it. i get an oreo for that. (that was always our reward when we were little.)
anyway-this week i got really mad at tatum. we were getting ready to go for our daily walk and i put tatum on her leash and connected it to the stroller, then sweet pea was sitting in the stroller and peanut was in his carrier on my tummy and i stepped away to put on my shoes. that dog. went NUTS trying to get away from the stroller. like all of a sudden when i wasn't standing right next to it she went HAYWIRE! oh i was so mad at her. i grabbed her by the collar and said "SIT!!!!!! STAY!!!!!!" and she did for as long as i was standing there and then she went crazy AGAIN! OH. so mad. we finally got out the door like a three ring circus and took our walk but i was so mad i coulda drop kicked that dog a mile away. and she's my BABY! i couldn't believe i could get that mad at her. once we got home and all undone she moped over in the corner for a good hour. but it made me wonder if sugar is what made me get that mad that fast at my little goofy baby puppy dog!

someone doesn't get to go

it kills me that tatum doesn't get to come with us to illinois this week to see family. we're going to be introducing sweet pea to both of our extended families. tonight we were upstairs packing and she's normally right here with us. i called down the stairs. nothing. i looked in all her usual upstairs spots. nothing. finally i went downstairs and she's laying in the dark with this look on her face. there's no frowny face big enough for how i feel leaving her behind. after all, she is our first baby!!!!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy TATUM!!!

Today is Tatum's 2nd birthday. Can you believe she's two? She's such a wonderful doggie. She is so good with all of the kids that come and go and she's always RIGHT there when we need some lovin'. There's no better doggie in the whole wide world.

it's the thought that counts

about a month ago we got a bike buggy so we could take sweet pea on bike rides with us. but i wanted to get one big enough so we could put tatum in there with her and go to the park or go places and not have to worry about tatum or feel guilty that we left her behind. this weekend we finally got the chance to use it. so, we buckled sweet pea in, then told tatum to "hop on up" (that's what we tell her to get her in the car) and she hopped on up. we snapped everything shut and off we went. until we rounded the corner where we normally take tatum to throw the ball. pretty soon i felt some ruckus going on back there, then i heard some squeaking coming from sweet pea and paul said "oop-there she goes!" tatum had squeazed herself between the layers of mesh up to the front of the buggy where sweet pea was buckled in. by the time i got the bike pulled over tatum was ON sweet pea. i'm trying to figure out how to explain what i mean by "on". paul says "full body maul?" "butt in her face?" it was sort of like tatum's tummy was on sweet pea's forehead. does that explain it? so we played a little ball and put tatum back inside while the three of us took a nice looooong bike ride. i loved it!

ROAR!

tonight i called the cops on our neighbors. i've never done that before in my life. well, actually once i did on that neighbor in denver who had video gaming parties at 2:00am. i called the cops on him. tonight we got together with some neighbors and grilled out. afterwords we took our pooches to the open space to play. it's so cute to see them. then on the way back another neighbor's dog came barreling out at us. first he went after tatum to which tatum turned to all fangs. then he went after chuckie who is a chijuajua. he's built more like a polish sausage-but he's a chijuajua by breed. THEN he went after sweet pea's feet. THAT'S when i screamed bloody murder so loud and long that i had to take two breaths. i came right back inside and checked for tears in her pajamas. she was so scared she was crying-she'd never heard me scream like that before, especially not right in her ear. i settled down and gave her a bottle and put her to bed and thought "that's it, i'm calling the HOA." then i thought-what are they gonna do? send her a letter? i had been pushed to far. this has happened with tucker before, but only with tatum, no babies. i don't do well when i'm pushed too far. much like what happened here. so i decided i was calling animal control but not like a weenie. i was going to do it right. i was first going to tell her that i was calling and the reason is-as a foster mom, my job is to protect my kids. and if sweet pea had gotten bit i would be in big trouble. i asked paul if i was being over the top. he said no. he ALWAYS brings me down to earth so when he said no i realized i had every right to be as pissed as i was. i put my sweater on and headed out. only to find tucker standing in the middle of the street between me and my neighbors house. i RAN back inside and called animal control. i explained everything right down to the part where i was going back out to tell her why i was going to call them. the cops showed up. took all my notes and went over there to talk to her. she felt really bad and actually already had him on craigs list. there's a link to his ad if you're interested in a crazy chocolate lab with a cute face.
so the cops came back over to me and asked if i wanted to press charges which of course i do not. but then told me she'd like to talk. !! to me? right now?? yes! she was on her porch waiting! so i went over there and she's in tears. i felt so bad. but not so bad that i regretted it. the cops told her to call the lab rescue or the humane society but she had to do something. they then told me that if she doesn't do something within a month to call them back. all in all it ended in me hugging the neighbor and telling her i didn't want to add anymore stress to her life but as a foster mom i HAVE to protect my kids and i don't want to lose my baby! how WEIRD was my night?!

NO INTERNET FOR 10 DAYS!

Wow. I'm back. And it's been TOO long. We switched our phone service and somehow it didn't get communicated that we would need a new port number for the internet. Our phone is through the internet. For the first few days we didn't even notice. We were out of town. Then busy. Then one day I tried to call my mom. Then the next day tried again. Then the next day clued in. Whoever said I jump to conclusions? Ha. I typically do. I guess this last week I didn't have time to jump to conclusions.
Sweet Pea is doing really good. She LOVES us a whole whole lot and is just amazing. Next week I get to meet a therapist that I'm really excited about getting started with. She told me that we'll go over what kinds of textures she likes or dislikes and if she eats with a spoon or lets me feed with a spoon and all kinds of crazy stuff I've noticed but not taken not of. So it will be interesting. I can't wait to learn it all and open my little world up.
Tatum, on the other hand, I have to gush about. She already knows which toys are hers and which toys are Sweet Pea's. They each have a basket of toys on opposite sides of the room and every night I put each one's toys back in their respective baskets. We have only had once incident to date and I totally understand why Tatum ripped it to shreds. It was a foamy bath toy and it's super squishy and if I were a dog I too would have ripped it to shreds. Here is an example. You can tell by the look on her face she KNOWS which toy is hers. Can you guess?

not hers...

hers....
I just realized how non-expressive she is in these pictures. She was tired that day and ready for us all to go back to work so she could sleep on the couches all day.
But anyway-tonight I took her for a walk with Sweet Pea in my new $20 garage saling Graco stroller. I made a killing a couple weekends ago. And I've been trying to teach Tatum "heel". I've never really understood what "heel" meant but I'm telling myself it means to stand to the right of the stroller and NO pulling. We were walking and Tatum would get ahead and I'd say "ok Tatum, heel." And she'd stop and turn around and walk to the right of the stroller and stay with us. She's so smart. I love that little doggie!!!

again!

i'm sorry. i am such a bad blogger i can't believe you haven't fired me.
here's how it went.
tuesday i begged and pleaded for an unpaid week of vacation only for m'lady to be a complete and total jerk about it. i have had 1 sick day so far this year, 2 vacation days when the girls came, and 1 day of vacation for foster training. all in all, i think i have a pretty good track record. then went to a foster support group that night.
wednesday i woke up, did my little work out, took a shower, got out and started balling. i think it was a little of everything hitting me at once. the infertility. the job. the lack of vacation. the feeling that i'm spinning my tires. so i called in sick. but lucky for me, i talked to the one sane person i work with and he reminded me that m'lady was out all day. so i went in. during my boredom, trust me, i have work to do, i just don't feel like doing it sometimes, i chatted paul and asked if i could tell rosie we are ready again. he said sure. so here's how it went:
me: hi rosie! it's cheri'
rosie: hi! how are you doing?
me: well...we're ready.
rosie: GREAT! what age?
me:0-7, we can't do 11 again. definately younger.
rosie: now are you guys foster or fost-adopt?
me: well, we're really fost-adopt.
rosie: how young again?
me: oh, anything 0-7.
rosie: liiiike 13 months?
me: ya sure.
then she asks me a few more direct detailed questions.
me: (clueing in at this point) do you have somebody?
rosie: yes. we have a little person in the hospital that is going to come home this weekend and we need someone willing to work with her.
me: ok!
rosie: shouldn't you call paul first?
me: oh ya!

i called paul and told him the situation and he said he was fine with it if i was. that was wednesday.
thursday we got clearance to go down and see her. she's adorable. she's a peanut. she is all giggles and smiles. she is a mover AND a shaker. and she melts the hearts of everyone she comes in contact with. she is a special special girl. then we realized exactly how much baby proofing we really had to do. at midnight, we finally were at the point that we could let the rest wait until today. then i made a walmart run for the essentials. JUST the essentials. do you KNOW how many essentials a baby needs? a LOT.
today she was released and got to come home. i picked her up and after wrangling for a half an hour with the social worker trying to get the baby seat fastened into the car, we got home. paul had taken tatum to the hardware store for some screws we need for the upstairs baby gate so i had a chance to let sweet pea (that's her nickname) get acclimated. tatum came tearing in the house, first sniffed the social worker, then me, then turned around and just wiggled from nose to nub at our new little marvel sitting on the floor. she stuck her hand straight out at tatum and tatum licked and made friends. sort of. we have had to work with sweet pea being gentle and tatum giving space. she tends to like to lick. a lot. aaaand then there was the part where we turned around and saw tatum standing stick still with her beard in sweet peas fist. and when they finally seperated some of tatum's beard stayed in sweet peas fist. we've been coaching with the open handed pat moreso than the fist grab of fur. later tonight i was petting one side of tatum and sweet pea was petting the other side with the open hand. she's SUCH a quick learner and we think she said doggie tonight. *ah* we're in love. and we're in trouble.
here's a quick succession of the teddy bear we gave sweet pea the first night we saw her and tatum getting used to NOT playing with the teddy bear:




literally she stood there this long trying to leave the bear alone. and theeeeeen:

i do have the cutest dog in the world

see? this was taken friday morning when she was waiting for me to eat breakfast so she could go to doggie daycare. she knows when it's tuesday or friday and does NOT have any appreciation for time.

dang. ok. and garage saling

yesterday i went garage saling and found some super deals. this time i kept my eyes peeled for boy clothes. i'm collecting for ages 2-ish to 5-ish give or take. i found one lady selling everything for a quarter. i about bought her out. then i found another lady selling everything for 50 cents. i bought two pairs of pants-one khaki, one pair of jeans and 4 onsies (they were a quarter a piece.) all in all it was a good find day. got a couple pairs of jammies so that we are at least prepared for a couple nights and a few days before we'll have to hit the stores when new kiddos come and frankly, i'm thinking boys this time and definately younger. i'm really REALLY hoping to find a part time job. not 10-5:30. i'm talking 20 hours a week. our budget will be tight, we'll have to cut back on entertainment again but i need a rest. i need to stop and smell the roses...besides smelling roses is free anyway.
this morning we went out for donuts and then took toots to the dog park, let her run herself silly and came home to a message from molly. she has had a cold and wants to reschedule for tuesday, thursday or friday. tuesday will be great. i can't stand to wait another day. as it is i'm on day 3 of this accupuncture idea anyway. and it will give me another day to wait for my stupid period to surface. i'm now on day 43 of what for normal women is 28 days and for me is typically 36 days...and waiting. no positive test yet. but no period and no other signs so i'm not holding on to hope that it's a false negative. now i'm just holding out hope it's not early menopause. *sigh* pisser!

trying to save a buck

i recently purchased a set of dog clippers at the store. i was thinking we could just trim around tatum's eyes and her etcetera's between groomings. but this week we thought maybe, just maybe, we could trim her ourselves and save a few bucks by not taking her to the groomers. it started out...ok. it's just a lot of hair. so we cut it with scissors first. then we tried to use the clippers to get the rest of her. it was when we rounded her back and started for her head that i realized a 25 pound dog can still have the strength of a titan in their neck alone. that was before i found the accidental cup holder paul gouged into her fur on the right side when the clipper guard fell off. i didn't say i bought GOOD clippers. as soon as the hair starts settling from the air i'm hoping to get the rest of this fur out of my nose. she doesn't look THAT bad but i'm not going to advertise just yet. we're going to let her rest and try again in a few weeks. maybe with some practice.....

computer whiz

i wuv my doggie. she's just checking her dogbook.

i talk too much

so tonight after dinner we tried to take a walk but tatum was ridiculously naughty. so we couldn't get very far. i had to practically put her in a headlock to get her to quit pulling on the leash and we finally gave up and came home after about 5 minutes. i was SO mad. i put her in her crate when we got home and left her there until i cooled down. what in the world? and to make matters worse she is licking her paw pads off. today i put away all of her old toys and gave her 5 new toys and that's it. i was hoping she was bored. it helped for the most part. but then after dinner and after our ridiculous attempt at a walk, we came back inside and she started at it again. i'm so mad. i spend half of my night telling her "leave it" or "stop licking" or "tatum NO!" ugh! i'm about to go to the store and get that stuff that you put on kids fingers to make them stop sucking their fingers!!!!!

typical?

well today was another great day. we went to church and had some really insecure moments. church is a very foreign place but our church opened with aerosmith so hopefully their parents won't have too many issues with a church that has that for an opener. however, tonight i've already started to wonder if i turned our lives upside down and landed us on our heads. it's nothing the girls did at all. i just look at tatum and think "is she ok? does she feel like i forgot her or replaced her?" but really all i see is one exhuasted dog. she's laying between me and paul on the couch asleep as i type. at 4:30 i realized it was 4:30. at 6:00 i realized i still needed to go to the store for the weeks groceries. we needed to have bathtime and pick out our outfits for tomorrow. we needed to finish a photo album for their brother that we will get to see tomorrow for the first time since placement. both girls needed dinner, as did we. that means 2 orders, one vegan, one not. i'm going to make empenadas this week but i need 3 kinds...one with meat for us, one with no tomatos for our older buddy, one with no corn for our younger buddy. not only are we vegans, we are picky eaters. eek. tonight though i found a hit with rice warmed up with rice milk cold and cinamon on top. whew. we have been having a bowl of bedtime cereal and i'm not going to say no to food right now. not until i can figure out what is hunger and what is stalling. so far we've made it into bed on time 2 out of 3 nights. all is well that ends well right?

busy hands

sorry i haven't posted. my hands have been busy. i finished sophia's quilt this week. tonight actually. i'll post pictures soon.
we got our first foster kid. sort of. his name is tommy dean and he's 50-something years old. oh, and he's paul's dad. he has a friend that needed some help at his body shop here in boulder for the next few weeks. since it's 74 miles from his house and roughly 14 from ours we figured it might be better if he just stays up here during the week. tonight was his first night here. tatum has already traded us in for him. she knows how to finnagle her way into the hearts of many. tonight instead of bringing us the ball she would lay it between his ankles and then sit there stalking. jeesh. we can't break her of that. it's quite disturbing if you are the one being watched. i kept telling him he was our first foster kid so he's gotta let us know if he doesn't know where things are and stuff.
tonight we met a woman who has been doing kinship foster for the last couple years and needs a break. and since we need respite, it all works out well. we might watch the girls for her this weekend for a few hours. she was really nice though so hopefully we can help her out and make her feel comfortable. that's about all i can say about that though.
on the work front, i have to say m'lady has been a lot easier to deal with and way more communicative with me. that helps more than i ever knew. so we'll see how long it lasts but so far it's been ok. and i'm so thankful for that.

snow bunny

well. our little miss knows when she is supposed to get to go to daycare. today, however, was a snow day, much to her dismay. mrs. doolittle called this morning and left us a couple messages before we heard the phone. the answering machine is now down in the basement so the closest phone is on the main floor and we sleep on the second floor. i told tatum it was a snow day and that daycare had been canceled. she never did give me a look of understanding. she did however give me a scowl when daddy and i left for work. this morning i made an egg casserole to take to m'lady's house. i know she'll have lots of mouths to feed over the next few days so i made it last night and left her a message that i was bringing the casserole and some chocolate-chocolate chunk cookies for her house. when i got the mrs. doolittle messages i also got a message from her choking back sobs. i feel so bad for her. no matter how old your dad gets he's still your daddy when he dies. she told me it really meant alot to her that i had done that and that i didn't have to but it was so appreciated. it made me feel even better for doing it than i already felt. since my car was snowed in at work paul took me on his way to work. so we dropped off the casserole and cookies and i went to work. my car had melted (pretty much) out by lunch and i came home to check on tootamunga only to find sophia bee's quilt thrown on the floor and my favorite plant from florida on the carpet with the roots chewed off. little booger. she knows when it's daycare day and she knows she was "forgotten". they say that dogs don't have vengeance. i do not agree. i put sophia's quilt back in my quilt basket and stuck the plants back in the dirt. although i am not holding out much hope for resuscitation. time will tell. tonight when we came home from work i took tatum over to the field and tried to play ball even though there was still a good foot of snow. she tried to play but instead of bouncing and rolling, the ball just plopped into the snow. i threw the ball ONE last time and she bounced and pounced and dug to china right where the ball landed. now i have to wait for the snow to melt to have any chance of finding it. little booger. she had a full blown junie b. jones day. if you've never read a junie b. jones book, regardless of your age, you need to. i used to borrow them from my niece adea and read them in one night laughing the whole way through. maybe i can relate too much or maybe she's like every other 5 year old you've ever met but she and tatum are much too alike. here's a picture of my junie b. jones after our walk this morning. our walks when there is snow on the ground are 90% sniffing the snow and 10% business.